“Learn tried-and-true methods of building and maintaining your small farm or homestead from historic US Department of Agriculture books and bulletins. The University of North Texas provides online editions of thousands of United States government sponsored books and documents. Here’s a small sampling of USDA publications from the 1930s through the 1960s. These old works do not show the latest and best methods, but they are still valuable for ideas.”
DIY
The Pitak Project
“We choose to build naturally because of its low carbon footprint and sustainability. We use natural materials like clay, river rocks, wood, bamboo, rice straw and carabao dung. Natural building is inexpensive, healthy, environment-friendly and the materials are readily available. As much as we can, we minimize the use of industrially produced materials like cement and steel.
Training the Locals – Earthbag Dome, Columbia
“This training took place December 2011 in Nariño, the southern border of Colombia with Ecuador. During 2 days we gave all the basic construction tools to a bunch of very happy and enthusiastic locals which were amazed at learning a new earth based construction method, an evolution of their own local architecture!”
CEDES Straw Bale Demonstration Home
“The state of Sonora recognized that to their south, in the Valle del Yaqui, the area around Ciudad Obregon, they had vast reservoirs of wheat straw that could be utilized for building. With a new governor in place, there was motivation to begin experimenting once again with straw bale buildings and take advantage of what was learned from our Obregon experience. Once we got the project underway, we secured the help of our friend Emiliano Lopez, who was in charge of the Save the Children building as well as the Cuenca Los Ojos ranch building to oversee the construction of this house.
The Pallet Pal
Search our site for one of the largest collections of information on building with pallets. This simple tool that you can build yourself for free makes it a breeze to disassemble pallets.
“The Pallet Pal – Re-claiming Pallets Made Easy! This is the easiest way to take apart pallets with very little damage to the wood! Very simple to use and almost any one can build it. No expensive hammers or pry bars needed. Homemade tool for dissembling pallet wood!”
Tiny Texas Houses August 2013 House Spotlights
“In this final video for the August Walkthrough, Brad Kittel showcases the “Vesper Casa” one of his most artistic tiny houses yet! Be sure to check the other videos out in the series. Thanks for watching!